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Several contenders out to unseat Jim Thorpe

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David McKeown / Staff Photo Pictured from left to right are Lehighton’s Joel Kuneck, Tyler Crum, Blue Mountain’s Zach Martin and Derrec Robinson as they pose for a picture on Tuesday, August 12, 2014.

JACQUELINE DORMER/Staff Photographer Schuylkill Haven’s Kyle Wingle (78) and Vincent Fanelli (42) stop Jim Thorpe’s Deonte St. Hill in an Anthracite Football League game in Jim Thorpe last season. St. Hill and the Olympians had the last laugh, however, claiming the program’s fourth AFL title in 2013.

Can Jim Thorpe do it again?

Last year, the Anthracite Football League coaches picked the Olympians to finish seventh in the preseason poll. The ranking made sense, considering Jim Thorpe was coming off a 1-9 campaign in 2012.

Mark Rosenberger’s club had other ideas, however.

Starting with a big Week 1 win over defending AFL champion Tamaqua, the Olympians compiled a 7-1 league mark to capture the program’s fourth Anthracite Football League title.

Repeating will be a tough task, considering Jim Thorpe lost AFL Offensive Player of the Year Ryan Saunders II and fellow senior standouts Deonte St. Hill and Mike Rodgers to graduation.

Where are the Olympians picked to finish this year in the preseason poll? Yep, you guessed it. Seventh.

The bounce back seasons by Jim Thorpe and Mahanoy Area were the top AFL storylines of 2013.

What’s in store for 2014?

Here’s at look at 10 burning issues surrounding the Anthracite Football League this season:

1. New additions

Lehighton and Blue Mountain enter the Anthracite Football League, expanding the league to 11 teams.

The Indians come from the Mountain Valley Conference, where they battled Class AAAA teams on a weekly basis. The Eagles return to play a more local schedule since departing for the Berks Football League in 2004.

The addition of the two Class AAA schools makes an extremely competitive league even more formidable. Lehighton figures to contend for top honors with the return of offensive stars Tyler Cann, Tyler Crum and Wyatt Clements, while Blue Mountain return seven starters on both sides of the ball, including defensive stalwarts Zach Martin, Troy Moyer and Sean Greenawalt.

2. Unbalanced schedule

The biggest impact the addition of Lehighton and Blue Mountain had to the AFL was on the league schedule.

With 11 teams, it’s impossible for every team to play all of the other league members in a 10-game schedule.

Shenandoah Valley drew the lucky straw, as the Blue Devils’ schedule is comprised of all Anthracite Football League teams. The other 10 teams will play nine league games and one non-league game.

The AFL schedule designates Week 10 as “Rivalry Week.” And, for the most part, each league school will play its biggest rival on the final regular-season playing date.

For example, Schuylkill Haven visits Blue Mountain, Marian hosts Tamaqua, Lehighton goes up the hill to Jim Thorpe and Mahanoy Area hosts Shenandoah Valley in the annual battle for the Damato-Szematowicz Trophy.

The rest of the league schedule, however, was totally changed, creating new dates for some much-anticipated backyard rivalry contests.

In fact, most of the AFL teams’ schedules are flipped upside down.

Some dates to note:

• Marian visits Mahanoy Area in Week 8 (Oct. 17) instead of Week 3.

• Schuylkill Haven and Minersville also play in Week 8 instead of Week 3.

• The annual season opener between Shenandoah Valley and North Schuylkill was moved to Week 6 (Oct. 3).

• Jim Thorpe’s season-opening game vs. Tamaqua will be played in Week 3.

4. Return to the throne?

North Schuylkill dominated the Anthracite Football League from 2009-11, winning three straight league titles and at one point compiling a 30-game league win streak.

The Spartans went 6-2 in league play in 2013, picking up steam as the season progressed. They figure to be in the mix again in 2014, and were selected No. 1 by the AFL coaches in their preseason poll.

For good reason, as North Schuylkill returns its entire offensive and defensive lines and features a bevy of talented skill-position players led by quarterback Bobby Grigas and linebacker Major Jordan.

The Spartans’ title quest could be decided in the first three weeks, as North Schuylkill opens with games against Tamaqua, Blue Mountain and Lehighton.

5. How good is Lehighton?

A common thread among AFL coaches at the annual Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association Media Day was their lack of knowledge about Lehighton.

The Indians went 6-5 in 2013, defeating AFL members Marian and Jim Thorpe in non-league games and losing to Bethlehem Catholic in the District 11 Class AAA semifinals.

Lehighton does return seven starters on offense and eight on defense. But how will their style of play match up against the teams from the Anthracite Football League?

That’s the big question everyone is waiting to see.

6. Stable of backs

Schuylkill Haven carried the AFL banner into the postseason in 2013, winning the District 11 Class A championship and reaching the second round of the PIAA Class A playoffs before losing to eventual runner-up Old Forge.

The Hurricanes return nearly their entire backfield from that club, including senior tailback Will Casella, the area’s leading rusher with 2,270 yards and 34 touchdowns, and senior quarterback Ryan Fink, who gained 1,370 yards and scored 16 TDs.

Over the past two seasons, Casella and Fink have combined to rush for 5,763 yards. Casella enters the season second on the school’s all-time rushing list with 4,142 yards.

Those two senior standouts are joined in a talented backfield by four-year starter

Five Anthracite Football League schools enter the 2014 season with new signal-callers under center.

Blue Mountain (Shane Grapsy), Jim Thorpe (Saunders), Mahanoy Area (Dylan Mahmod), Panther Valley (Kyle Ferryman) and Tamaqua (Nate Edmonds) each have to replace the man running the offense, and how they do so will ultimately determine their success.

Grapsy, Edmonds and Saunders threw for more than 1,000 yards last season, while Mahmod, Saunders and Ferryman each rushed for more than 1,000 yards.

Senior Sean Greenawalt and junior Tanner Cook are vying for the job at Blue Mountain, while senior Shane Snisky and junior Dean Richards are battling at Jim Thorpe. Junior Mason Ryan is set to take over at Mahanoy Area, while juniors Mike Hudicka and Ali Capobianco battle for the starting job at Panther Valley and freshman Thaddeus Zuber takes over the reins at Tamaqua.

8. New leader at PV

The league has only one new coach this season, Matt Davis at Panther Valley.

Davis, a former quarterback for the Panthers, was an assistant coach at Panther Valley for nine seasons. His coaching staff includes many key members of Panther Valley’s championship past, including Fenton Black, Danny Blazosky and Greg Kosciolek.

9. Familiar names in new places

Lozada isn’t the only big-name skill-position player to switch teams in the offseason, as standout wide receiver Angelo Maskornick transferred from Shenandoah Valley to Marian.

Maskornick caught 39 passes for 725 yards and five TDs as a sophomore, and had 20 catches for 328 yards and two scores last season.

Among other moves, Richards transferred from Marian to Jim Thorpe, Aaron DeAngelo (Pottsville) and Joe Nahas (North Schuylkill) went to Marian and Capobianco left Jim Thorpe for Panther Valley.

10. Staying healthy

Injuries played a major factor in the Anthracite Football League title chase last season, as several teams saw star players miss key games.

Among those sidelined at some point during the season were Grigas, Fink, Snerr, Kerschner, Defensive Player of the Year Lukas Damian of Marian, Tamaqua’s Tyler Hope and Dustin Vandermartin, Minersville’s Luke Heffron.

With rosters ranging from the 30s to low 50s, there’s not a team in the league that can survive the lost of one or two of its star players for an extended amount of games.

The team that is able to avoid and/or overcome those injuries stands the best chance of capturing the Anthracite Football League trophy.

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